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He went downstairs, walked outside It was cool, but not unpleasantly so Football weather, you’d call it, if the calendar didn’t insist that it was March Cool, crisp--a perfect October day

He walked a couple of blocks to another hotel, where there was a queue of waiting cabs He went to the first one in line, settled into the backseat, and told the driver to take him to the airport

Two

He’d been working on his sta He was alone in the house, Julia had left to pick up Jenny at day care, and he very nearly let the machine answer it because calls were almost invariably for Julia But there was always a chance it was Donny, so he went and picked it up half a ring ahead of the machine, and it turned out to be Dot

Not that she bothered to identify herself Without preamble she said, "Remember that cell phone you had?" And she broke the connection before he could respond

He remembered the phone, an untraceable prepaid one, and even remembered where he’d left it, in his sock drawer The battery had long since run down, and while it was charging Julia and Jenny caood half hour before he was back in his den with the phone

For years he’d lived in New York, a few blocks from the United Nations, and Dot had lived north of the city in White Plains, in a big old house with a wraparound porch That house was gone now, burned to the ground, and the same wind that had blown him to New Orleans had picked up Dot and deposited her in Sedona, Arizona Her name was Wilma Corder now, even as his was Nicholas Edwards, and she had a new life of her own Back in the day she had arranged the contract killings he had performed, but that was then and this was now

Even so, he closed the door before he ht in," she said "I’m back in business"

"And the business is--"

"Holding its own Not boo, which see"

"What I meant--"

"I knohat you meant You want to knohat business I’m in, but do you have to ask? Same old"

"Oh"

"You’re surprised? You’re not the only one See, there’s this thing I joined, Athena International"

"It sounds like an insurance company"

"It does? It’s what they call a service club, like Rotary or Kiwanis Except it’s exclusively for women"

"Can’t women join Rotary?"

"Of course, because it would be sexist to keep them out But men can’t join Athena"

"That doesn’t seem fair"

"Keller, if it bothers you, you can put on a dress and a wig and I’ll drag you along to aIf you’re still awake at the end of it I’ll buy you a pair of high heels"

"But you enjoy it"